


hold on to me as we go

by Ash_Cassidy97



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Laura Barton, Clint and Laura Barton's Family, F/M, Laura is Coulson's sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 13:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10571955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash_Cassidy97/pseuds/Ash_Cassidy97
Summary: Everybody who greets Natalie pulls a gun or has the smile that says they have one tucked into their back or they don’t need one to kill her, to burn her where she stands. Coulson has that smile. Barton, well, she already knows he doesn’t have any self-preservation instincts.She thinks a stay at home wife knows better





	

Everybody who greets Natalie pulls a gun or has the smile that says they have one tucked into their back or they don’t need one to kill her, to burn her where she stands. Coulson has that smile. Barton, well, she already knows he doesn’t have any self-preservation instincts.

 

She thinks a stay at home wife knows better.

 

Laura shows a four month old baby into her cement hands and walks off without a word besides “here, I need to take the turkey out of the oven.” She turns to Barton, but the man has already wandered off, muttering about putting a new floor in for the kitchen, shouting ideas over Laura’s equally loud ice-cream flavored swearing.

 

Coulson didn’t go over any of this with the lecture of how to be normal, how to act like there weren’t five exits from this room, how to pretend there wasn’t a gun safe under the living room floor.

 

The baby gurgled. It’s eyes were trusting. Nobody had ever given it a reason to make it fear people. Natalie swore silently that she would not be the first.

 

Laura bustles around the kitchen, laying down napkins and forks and extra plates. Clint eyes her, quietly in between their easy argumenting over wood flooring, expecting an outbreak of this is not an adoption center, damnit.

 

This is Laura Barton, Coulson’s kid sister, who gave a 19 year old coffee while she waited for her brother to finish his paperwork. She knew all about strays. She remembers Clint’s fear over having a kid, of breaking Cooper, of leaving him to stand in front of bullets. Mostly, she remembers Phil dropping off a sober Clint after nights in bars. Not all exams come in stapled packets or with bullets.

 

Natalie remembers Shield interrogations and truth serum and cold empty rooms. She remembers Barton gazing at her across interrogations rooms. Coulson is mean, cruel in a kind way.

 

“Babe?” Clint signed in slow movements. He looks so nervous and Laura thought she stamped that out in him long ago. After three cats, he stills looks nervous whenever he brings a surprise over.

 

“It’s fine.” She turns to Natalie, who’s holding her baby with sweaty hands, and smiles. “We have a spare room upstairs. Sheets are clean,” she says out loud.

 

“Thank you,” was all Natalie says.

 

Laura first holds a gun when she’s 17, taking pop shots at cans with Coulson grinning next to her on leave. She asks out Clint for a cup of coffee when she’s twenty-three and knows how to make upside down pineapple cake from scratch.

 

Clint stared at her, and swallows his tongue. He has three cracked ribs that Laura knows about and the softest smile she’s ever seen. Clint nods hastily, taking the offer with quick hands. He’s known her for two years. He wears a flannel shirt and jeans, and holds the door for her. They go to a little coffee shop, mocking the hipsters, holding hands.

 

Phil gets the most interesting expression on his face when he finds out. He didn’t know who to give the shovel talk to. It gets better when she sneaks into Nick’s office to steal some of his knives because she can.

 

When Phil was nine, he brought home a dog. Boys had been kicking it in the street, blood smearing across their white sneakers. Phil came home, gripping a ball of fur with bruised knuckles, Eagle uniform askew. Laura was seven, learning to bake oatmeal raisin cookies, and she knows it’s the start of something.

 

She teaches Natasha how to bake cookies when she’s twenty-six. There are a client’s tax forms on the kitchen table. A new found puppy is snuggling up to Cooper as the toddler waddles around the kitchen underfoot.

 

She lets Steve do the dishes and wolf whistles at Clint shirtless. Steve hauls Bucky to her door, and she watches him sit outside and gingerly pet one of the cats. Tony is somewhere in the barn, working out a better tractor. She’ll order him to put it back together tomorrow, careful to not cut him off mid rant. Bruce is still in New York, running a lab. Jane’s out of town, well, off planet. Darcy’s with her. Clint no longer looks worried when he brings home people who need him, need a warm blanket and some Disney in the background.

  
  
Years later, Copper brings home another dog with a shy smile and the sure knowledge that mom won’t mind. Laura firmly blames Phil, names the dog, and leans against Clint as the puppy runs around their home.


End file.
